By Nicholas Jason Lopez “Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post. (Aired 3/7/17) Vices By Vipers – The opening video recapped the last month, aka Randy Orton’s “master plan” to sacrifice himself into The […]

Blog Archives

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 3/6/17)

Reclaim The Yard

– The opening video recapped WWE Universal Champion Goldberg’s defeat over Kevin Owens at Fastlane the night before that lasted just longer than a National Basketball Association shot clock. WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho – once Owens’ best friend that was betrayed mercilessly weeks prior – cost him the belt that he at one point helped him keep countless times. He did that with his simple presence on the ramp, which deterred Owens from his “mind games” strategy of repeatedly stalling for time. We hoped they’d work in actual footage of Jericho helping Owens time in and time out (Dammit, WWE Network, there’s an archive waiting to be used) but they did give us the line from Commentator Michael Cole, so we guess we’ll settle for that. On the other side of the WrestleMania 33 spectrum, this sets up an inevitable Universal Championship match between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar, just what their third match in history needs.

Check out the latest edition of “Manopera: A Wrestling Symposium,” where PWO’s own Nick joins Hosts Chris Butera and “Spaceman” Frank for a discussion about WWE Royal Rumble 2018 and predictions for WWE WrestleMania 34!

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 2/27/17)

Post Breaker

– We began with Goldberg, who we know challenges WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens at Fastlane in six days. Cue his classic “walk from the back and snort aggressively” entrance. Goddamn, his pyro gets so bright. Among the fans in Green Bay, Wisconsin looks like an adult woman decked out in WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bayley’s gear. Well, something seems off about that. Not a bad promo from Goldie – “KO talks too much” and “I’m six days away from gold” are things his character should be saying. It’s inevitable, isn’t it? We think people just like to chant Goldberg’s name more than it being an indication that he’s actually over. He sure was throwing a lot of promises out there. Things looked to wrap up there, but we got a KO appearance. Luckily for last week’s sit-down suit promo, we can take the Champ slightly more serious now. Okay, he flubbed “mood” for “mool,” but that can slide. We liked that he sold his credibility and reminded us of how he beat John Cena on his first night on the main roster and scored big wins over AJ Styles and WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose. He even name-dropped WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns. The telling line was that he outright said Chris Jericho didn’t matter. Foreshadowing. We’ll say that Goldberg has gotten better at promos than we can remember. “I don’t speak neanderthal” was a very KO response. Ha. Pick on the hometown, classic heel move. “The Goldberg chant dies” was a pretty morbid way to end the exchange, but that set the table for FL nicely. KO ultimately stands no chance in the long run with Brock Lesnar in the wings and his history with Goldberg.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was once signified as the “Be All, End All” of professional wrestling.

By now, that statement has been detracted with talent like The Young Bucks, Colt Cabana and Kenny Omega, all of whom have achieved financial efficiency and without any WWE stints (or pushes in Cabana’s case) to boot.

Ron Snyder’s “Wrestling’s New Golden Age: How Independent Promotions Have Revolutionized One Of America’s Favorite Sports,” released by Sports Publishing, succeeds in its goal to inform and explore just how independent wrestling came to be from its eerie territorial beginnings.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 2/20/17)

The Behemoths Collide

– The opening video recapped WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho’s “Festival Of Friendship” that emanated from Las Vegas. To sum it up, it was a millennial rehash of “This Is Your Life” with a showbiz extravaganza theme to showcase Jericho’s appreciation for his best friend. They did a great job as they drove home the emotion and set up the moment perfectly when Jericho didn’t suspect an attack until it was too late. Loved the closeups on WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens’ sadistic expressions as he betrayed Jericho and was thus, friends no more.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 2/13/17)

Festival Of Friendship

– Raw was in Las Vegas, we had a big WWE Raw Women’s Championship rematch between Champion Charlotte and Bayley and above all else, a “Festival Of Friendship” WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho was throwing for WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens. Add up all the ingredients and figure out where it can possibly go wrong. Exactly. To start the show, out came Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, which meant we got the old-fashioned 20-minute talking promo. Vintage Raw. She “gave” General Manager Mick Foley “the week off” and emasculated him without his presence this time. She went for the classic hometown cheap pop. Lord. Here comes Roman Reigns. Just why? This “Big Dog” nickname sounds so forced and won’t ever catch on. He demanded Braun Strowman, even though he’s guaranteed to face him at Fastlane on Mar. 5., like bro, can’t you wait? Real world exercise – ask your boss for your vacation and then a month before it approaches, demand it right now. See how that works out for you. From Steph’s point of view, why on earth would she oblige? We’re reminded she’s a heel and gets the crowd worked up for the prospect of it happening and then does the “boss” thing and prevents it because “she cares.” Cue the boos. She does announce that Strowman would face Mark Henry later. That sounds nice. She’s the boss, so she threatened Reigns and teased taking away the FL match and subsequent WrestleMania bonus. Reigns only got more aggressive in his stance, which drew WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson. This can’t be good. They sucked up to Steph and suggested a Handicap match. Why wouldn’t she? Anderson sported a Club shirt that had similar fonts to the classic Bullet Club tee. Oh, subtle copying. Cue a mini-“brawl” where Referees have to pull them apart before we go to break. Let’s get to the match portion of things. Not much to write here, as the “numbers game” ran the pace, though Reigns powered in some offense. For some reason, the Champs ignored requests from the Referee to not beatdown their single opponent and were disqualified. Meh. Reigns fought out of the Magic Killer and then walked away. The Tag Champs don’t look any stronger and neither did Reigns. What exactly was this supposed to be?

Check out the latest episode of “Manopera: A Wrestling Symposium,” where PWO’s own Nick joins Hosts Chris Butera and “Spaceman” Frank for a discussion of all things SummerSlam 2017 – big matches, frustrating angles, shark cages and all the beach balls you can handle.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 2/6/17)

Wild Samoans

– One week after Samoa Joe’s riveting debut that involved a sideline beatdown of Seth Rollins, it was probably no secret that the angle would be the focus to open the show. It’s funny how the Rollins-Triple H storyline mulls along through the months, but with big happenings, it heats up. At this time, Rollins was likely to miss WrestleMania, which actually put more heat on Joe and rather than ignore that, they used it to their advantage. The opening video delved into all that, with sleek editing that actually brought meaning to Trips’ promo on Rollins last week and set up the moment well for Joe to attack. We’ll guess Joe will be branded as “The Destroyer” from hereon out. The key as always is the followup.

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 1/30/17)

Meet The Destroyer

– The WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens/WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho/Braun Strowman/Raw General Manager Mick Foley in-ring segment was plenty to take in, but all made sense. We got the happy (yet sore) heel duo as they bragged about their accomplishments, only to get confronted by Strowman himself for a Title shot that Owens promised a month ago. Better yet – Strowman came armed with footage of that occurrence and that left Foley in no other position than to make it happen. It also helped that they had Owens bandaged up from the 65 bumps he took the night before. Also loved how before Strowman came out, Owens did everything but acknowledge that Strowman had anything to do with his victory. Also, #SixtyOneMinuteMan. On another note, what on earth was that green suit Foley wore? Austin Powers, eat your heart out.